Just been through the latest SNG training videos over at Cardrunners, one from Sippin_Criss and the other from Faarcyde. Alone in the office this morning so was able to give them my full attention, and managed to pick up a few really good ‘nuggets’ along with the main themes of the videos… Firstly the latest SNG training video from Faarcyde, this is a mid-stakes ($24s and $36s) 4-tabling video… and  is played with no ‘Heads-Up-Display’ stats program, making paying attention to the opponents at the tables very important. Before I get into what Faarycde did, a point of my own: If you are currently at the lower levels and looking to move up then you will be pleased to hear that there are plenty of bad players in the mid-stakes to profit from too… it is just a case of building your bankroll big enough to withstand the variance. 

So, here are a couple of the highlights

-          Faarcyde mentioned how rarely you should flat call 3 bets, instead opting for a ‘raise or fold’ mentality. Spot on for me and something I went into during the $16 / hr SNG Blueprint course.

-          Smaller 3 bets and shove 3-bets also came up… those times when you raise from middle position and see a button shove. Here the point concerned experienced players making different bets than less experienced players. Faarcyde highlighted that inexperienced players will shove with mid strength hands (88-jj / AQ) and raise smaller with the top of their hand range… while more experienced players will balance better.

-          Ranges for Regulars vs fish came up too… the old ‘I know he knows’ routine where you can actually call an experienced player (regular) far wider than an unknown opponent… since they know you can not call them light, great stuff!

Next sippin_criss produced a live session of 24 tabling the $16s on Pokerstars, pretty amazing the way he talked through decisions in such a relaxed way with that much going on. He was using an x-box controller to play, along with a heads-up display. Again one of the themes was how to adjust your play against the regulars and novices… some good points included:

-          Play those good hands fast, no tricky play, sippin_criss raised aces and bet his flopped sets. This added deception for later continuation bets with nothing much, and also enabled him to get all the cash in the middle when strong. No reason to get tricky in SNGs!

-          One decision that stood out was to limp a small pair in early position as there were no regulars still to act, and to fold when there were some. Here the logic was that this play is too exploitable against players who know what they are doing, though profitable against beginners.

-          Finally an interesting ‘least bad’ choice came up with K-5 off UTG (6 or 7 handed) and 1500ish in chips. With blinds of 400 / 200 and an ante criss’ stack was about to be blinded away… so while the shove was -$ev, this was a ‘least bad’ option compared to folding. Colin Moshman refers to similar situations as ‘negative equity’. I’m planning an article on these type of situations soon, as they give some people headaches! 

Anyway – a good couple of videos to complement those I already covered in my Best SNG Training Videos article. I can recommend Cardrunners, they are no longer the ‘cash games only’ site they used to be… if you are a SNG fan looking to take your game to the next level of profitability, then a subscription could turn out to be the best investment you ever made! 

 GL at the tables, Mark